When Tinker Bell lost her Arrival Day hammer and realized she couldn't do her talent without it, that got the Never Fairy thinking: “My first hammer is precious to me, but how can I be the best tinker that I can be if losing it creates a handy cap? No, no, that just won't do.”

Tinker Bell decided that honing her skills would be a good place to start. But how? What would be the best way?

Tinker Bell snapped her fingers. “Right! He knows just about everything!”

And it just so happened that Dewey knew of an ancient place where Never Fairies would go to study various talents, long before fairies were born with a natural talent. The story was so old that no fairy or sparrowman believed it ever existed – for it resided a hundred years or more ago, before Never Neverland came to be. On the Mainland.

Tinker Bell felt a challenge in the air and grabbed hold of it, studying every known book that mentioned the 'Faerie Academy'. With her friends' help, they hopped aboard Tink's cotton ball balloon with packed bags and headed towards an island called Ireland.

Among the greenery, sitting just off the shore, they came upon a ruined human castle, clearly abandoned. Well...maybe not exactly. As soon as the pixie dust-powered balloon landed, tall fairies and sparrowmen, such as the Ministers of the Seasons, stepped out and greeted Tink and friends – welcoming them to Faerie Academy!

Tinker Bell could hardly believe it; but she knew that not only would she learn more about her own talent, she'd also learn the true secret of all fairies and how the birth of Never Neverland prompted the Great Fairy Migration...

***

Each fairy – Fawn, Tinker Bell, Iridessa, Rosetta, Vidia, Silvermist, and Zarina – got their own dorm to sleep and study in. It was Christmastide on the Mainland and the Deans of the academy had decorated the castle for the holiday in anticipation for the arrival of the Winter Fairies. Tinker Bell admired her Christmas tree she made of wire and decorated with gears and other Lost Things. She got a slip of leaf paper out of her dorm's desk to write a letter to Periwinkle, inviting her to come to Faerie Academy.

Silvermist knocked. “It's me!”

“Come in, Sil.”

“Hey, Tink. What'cha doin'?”

“Writing to Peri. Wouldn't it be flitterific if we learned to do each others' talents? I'm telling her where Faerie Academy is.”

“Ooh, I wonder if I can learn to be a Light talent and help Iridessa make rainbows.” Silvermist laid a tray down of an acorn teapot and chestnut cups. “Well, I mean, I already help her make rainbows, but if I could bend light like 'dessa, then I could make even more rainbows for the rainy seasons!
“Want some tea? It's cranberry-flavored.”

As the two enjoyed their hot tea, a flurry of soft snow began to fall outside Tinker Bell's window

Locket shook her head. “Most of us are drawn to Neverland, but just as many are born on the Mainland, such as myself. We come here to learn a trade, then join a guild of that trade in order to help humans.”

“Really? Like, how exactly? Never Fairies in Pixie Hollow bring about the seasons, while other talents – er, trades – help in other ways to keep the seasons in check; like weaving baskets to carry seeds for spring.”

“Mainland Fairies work more in secret. Like if a human is having a difficult time growing crops, we come along to give a little aid.” Locket got a notebook out and opened it to a blank page. Tinker Bell thought she saw a few fantastic inventions filling the other pages. “Tailoring fairies used to be the highest demanding fairy trade in the human world, making shoes while the people slept.”

Tinker Bell leaned back in her chair. “Amazing, I never knew anything like that existed.”

A tall sparrowman entered the stage, he looked like the professor type: graying hair, a handlebar mustache, and a monocle. “Good day, Locket. And I see I have a new student. Tinker Bell, is it?”

There were parts of Faerie Academy where the snow never fell, such as the courtyard Tink and friends sat in.

“...It was flitterific!” Zarina told everyone. “I never knew there was a fairy talent where you make potions all day, it was just like my Dust Alchemy class in Pixie Hollow. Apparently it's one of the more popular trades for Mainland Fairies to learn. If I had known...”

“What? What would you have done?” Iridessa asked. “Left Neverland completely?”

Silvermist handed out hot tea, there was no snow but it was cold outside. “You sound upset, 'dessa.”

“No, petunia, I think 'grumpy' is normally your thing,” Rosetta said, daintily eating a poppy puff roll – they were almost as good as the ones Dulcie was famous for.

Vidia shrugged, whether she accepted that or not was anyone's guess.

Iridessa snorted. “It's just like when Tink wanted to trade her talent for one of ours. Remember? Fairies are born with a special talent, you can't just go around learning a bunch of other talents just because. It's...it's not natural. It's wrong.”

“But, Iridessa,” Tinker Bell said “Locket told me that Mainland Fairies aren't born with a talent.”

Another snort from Iridessa. “I don't believe it. We're all born with an inner talent, though...I suppose...sometimes that needs a nudge.”

Zarina playfully pushed the Light fairy. “Like me, right? I was born a Dust talent, but that wasn't my true calling.”

Iridessa relented a little – then snapped when Fawn airily remarked: “It's just for fun, I had a blast being a Light talent when Zarina switched our abilities.”

“For us, who already know our talent, it might be fun, but what about the ones who come here who don't?” Iridessa asked. “What if...w-what if Tinker Bell was born on the Mainland – we all know she's a brilliant Tinker talent – but when she Arrived she doubted herself. What if she came to Faerie Academy and tried to become a, I don't know, a Baking talent! What if she never discovered how talented a Tinkerer she was and continued on as a Baker talent? What if Rosetta never became a Garden fairy and instead became a Cleaning fairy?” Rosetta made a face. “Or-or Vidia became a Mining talent and never flew ever?”

Vidia shivered and looked ill at the thought: a Fast-Flyer who never learned to fly, but instead mined jewels in a cramped tunnel? Brr~

“Gosh, I guess it does sound pretty serious,” Silvermist said.

“Exactly!” Iridessa crossed her arms and nodded. “What if Mainland Fairies are born with a natural talent – but just don't know it? And then they spend the rest of their lives doing something they were never meant to do?”

Tinker Bell sighed. “You make a good point, 'dessa. But you forget to see that many of the fairies and sparrowmen that come to Faerie Academy eventually go to a talent trade that they are interested in. And they can try as many as they like until they find the single one they love the most. That's their inner talent shining through and guiding them. Don't you think?”

Iridessa had to admit it sounded true.

There was a blast of horns and a ring of bells in the distance.

“What's all that noise for?” Rosetta covered her ears.

Fawn flew above the courtyard, who was then spun around in place by Vidia who sped by. “It's the Frost Fairies!” Vidia reported. “They're here!”

“Not ALL of them have white hair,” Rosetta corrected, thinking of Sled.

Vidia snorted. “Whatever.”

Tinker Bell flew off.

“Hey...” Silvermist said. “Isn't the academy going to be too warm for the Frost-talents?”

“Good question,” Iridessa said. “There are a lot of fireplaces.”

“Ooh, a mystery~” Fawn poked Iridessa, knowing she loved a good
mystery.

The Light-talent plopped a hat on her head and took out a magnifying glass. “Challenge... accepted. I'm gonna crack this academy's secrets wide open. Nothing will be able to escape my light!”

***

“Peri? Periwinkle?” Tink flittered here and there. “Are you here? It's me, Tinker Bell!” She didn't recognize any of the Frost Fairies. Did they not come from Pixie Hollow, after all? Wait! There was Gliss, and Spike, Sled, and...Tinker Bell's wings started to glow. “Periwinkle!”

Peri laughed. “Tinker Bell!”

The two of them hugged.

“I got your invite,” Peri said, producing the leaf of paper. “Only a select few Frost-talents get to come to Faerie Academy, so when I asked about coming I had to pass a test.”

“A test? What kind of test?”

“It was really complicated,” Peri became serious. “I had to make slush out of snow! Imagine that, right? It was like trying to melt snow, but also keep it cold. I almost didn't pass.” She grinned. “But I couldn't let that happen, right?”

Someone coughed loudly. “Pardon me, but all Winter Fairies must stay together until the tour of Faerie Academy is done.”

Peri wrinkled her nose – much like what her twin was doing now.

Tink gasped at seeing the one who spoke. “The Minister of Winter!? I haven't seen her since...before the Great Freeze! I thought something had happened to her, but...I guess not.”

The Minister of Winter turned to the other Frost-talents to speak to them.

“What is going on, Peri? Why is the Minister of Winter here? She went missing a Blue Moon ago. Queen Clarion had Scout-talents searching for her for weeks, but they couldn't go any further than the Autumn Woods. And...now that I think about that, how in Neverland was she able to visit the warmer meadows of Pixie Hollow and be with the other Ministers of the seasons? She had Frost-talents with her, too, I remember them at my Arrival...I-I'm confused, now.”

Periwinkle had tried to get a word in, but her twin kept rambling on.

Then –

“Hello, Tinker Bell,” said the Minister of Winter.

Tink glanced up at the towering fairy and gulp.

To Be Continued.

Sorry for the delay, the last month was emotionally sad for me. I'm hoping to be able to get a new chapter out every weekend. *Crosses fingers*

“...Here at Faerie Academy I am known as Lady Snowflake,” the Minister of Winter spoke to her pupils.

“This place looks like a human ruin,” Spike glanced around, she hadn't decided if she thought that was cool or not.

“It is, and it's 300-years-old,” said Lady Snowflake. “The academy, that is; the castle is twice that old. 600-years-ago the Queen of the Fairies, Mab, was friends with the humans who once lived here. The family promised that all fairies would be safe in these castle walls, so it was our ancestors' home a long time ago and it eventually became Faerie Academy.”

Peri waved a hand. “What do you mean our ancestors?”

But Lady Snowflake turned and started the tour, by pointing out class rooms and other key interests.

“Why didn't she answer you?” Iridessa heard Gliss ask Periwinkle.

“Maybe we'll come to the answer later in the tour?” Peri guessed, but she sounded doubtful.

Fawn glanced around at all the fairies, seven in all including herself. “There's a lot of us, Vidia, we kind of have to go slow or we'll be seen by the Minister of Winter.”

“Yeah,” Tink nodded, “and I don't think she wants us to follow her. Iridessa may be right about something being wrong about Faerie Academy, Lady Snowflake acted very mysterious when she saw me. And I didn't tell you, but the professor of Engineer's Hall knew my name.”

“But what could that mean?” asked Zarina.

“The teach in Pollen class knew my name, too,” Rosetta said.

While they thought on that, the Frost-talents flew outside into a sunny garden area where flower-related classes were conducted.

“It's, um, pretty warm out,” Sled said, fanning himself.

“Sure is,” Gliss stepped into the shade.

“You will be taking classes to better adapt to the warmth,” Lady Snowflake said, making her pupils gasp in fear and shock. “Yes, that's right. If I can learn such a skill, so can you all. After all, you would not have been chosen if you didn't have the potential.”

“But, Lady Snowflake,” Periwinkle said, “what is the point behind such a class? I mean, I'd love to be able to visit my sister whenever I wished, but...”

“Well...it's not such a bad idea,” Silvermist said. “It would be nice to live together with the Winter fairies and not apart from them.”

“But it's strange...” Rosetta voiced, “if the Minister of Winter knows how to live in warmish climates, then why doesn't she share that knowledge with Queen Clarion? You know, so she and Lord Milori can be together? So I and Sled can be together?” Naturally she had to add that part in.

“We can ask Peri when she learns the reason,” Tinker Bell said.

The rest of the tour was the same as what Tink and friends experienced on their second day in Faerie Academy.

The Mainland Fairies knew how to truly use the human-size rooms of the castle to their full advantage; no space was wasted in making class rooms and dorms to fit the size of a fairy. Tinker Bell couldn't wait to see what the Frost-talents' rooms would be like, but she should have known that the Winter fairies would be staying in the snow-covered section of Faerie Academy; it was too cold for any other fairy talent.

“I'm sure you'll be able to spend time with Periwinkle tomorrow,” Silvermist tried to cheer Tinker Bell up.

“Yeah...” Tink was too glum to appreciate the company of her friends, she sulked off to go to bed early.

“Shoot the moon!” Iridessa stomped on her 'detective hat'. “How can I do any investigating if I can't explore the Frost-talents' dorms?”

“Relax,” Vidia said, “I can understand wanting to do things as quickly as possible, but we have all winter to figure this all out. Besides, I'd like to enjoy a few more of Madam Juniper's class on Invisibility. See ya all around!”

Rosetta shook her head at Vidia's fast exit. “That sour plum is right about one thing,” she patted Iridessa's shoulder, “we have all winter to solve this mystery.”

The next day Tinker Bell was feeling much more hopeful, perhaps it was because she was going to learn how Mainland Fairies tinkered. Since they weren't born to a predestined talent, Mainland Fairies depended solely on their wits and not magical tools. And instead of pixie dust, they had fairy dust: a sparkling cinnamon-based powder that Queen Mab had created long, long ago. It wasn't as powerful as pixie dust, but it did its job – and Mainland Fairies didn't need it to fly...

“You mean you can fly without any kind of magic dust!?” Tinker Bell asked Locket.

“Nope, we're born with strong wings. We use fairy dust to aid us in our work among the humans.”

“Amazing...it's like everything I ever thought I knew about my own folk is completely wrong!” Tink flapped her wings, wishing she could fly without the Pixie Dust Tree's golden powder.

“No it's not,” Locket assured her. “It just proves that Never Fairies and Mainland Fairies are different – but similar. And there's nothing wrong with that.

“Anyway, a friend of mine will be joining today's class. There he is!”

Ringles nodded Tink's way. “Nice to meet you. So you're a Never Fairy, huh? We don't get many of your folk here at Faerie Academy.”

Somewhere in Tink's head the thought came: “There might be a reason for that...” though she didn't know what that reason was. Yet.

Professor Boltz now entered the hall, he adjusted his glasses and peered solemnly out at all the empty seats. Tinkering just wasn't as popular of a Mainland Fairy talent as it used to be, when humans were still experimenting and finding new ways to get things done.

Well...that wasn't all true. Humans still fiddled with new inventions, but these were noisy, smelly 'monsters' – like the automobile and aeroplane. In the olden days, when fairies helped humans with their tinkering in the usual secret manner, the humans were left in wonder and awe. The belief of a child was strong, which is why a child merely has to clap to save a fairy from winking out. But when a grown-up believes in the unseen, it's more profound and sets off a positive wave that washes over all fairies in all corners of the world: not only saving fairies from winking out, but also helping new fairies come to life – it's happened countless times, when a baby suddenly laughs for the first time for no reason; or, at least it appears that way. But no, the baby gets tickled by that positive wave of belief and, well, laughs.

To Be Continued....

Yikes, I haven't updated this since April!? Well, stuff happens, it can't be helped. I'm trying to work on my stories and books more zealously, so hopefully there won't be such large gaps between updates...

Professor Boltz sighed. It certainly wasn't like those golden days anymore. To be a Tinkering Mainland Fairy one had to have an extraordinary talent and create something dazzling! Something brilliant, but not too scientific or else the humans would fail to see the magic in it – that was the most difficult part, humans were always trying to figure out how things worked instead of simply taking magic for what it was: Pure Wonder. Which explained why Professor Boltz' class was always small, just one student before Tinker Bell came along. Fairies were too tiny and carefree to care about such lofty aspirations.

“All right, class, I see that everybody is here,” spoke the professor. “Locket, Tinker Bell, and a new recruit: Ringles. Today's assignment is to create an invention that a human can use in the kitchen.” He pulled a leaf of paper down to showcase all the current human tools of a 1900s kitchen.

Tinker Bell's eyes sparkled, she had no idea that any of these existed – and they were all so ingenious! She especially liked a gadget that peeled and cored an apple at once using a corkscrew and handle attacked to a clamp which you'd secure to a table. I need to make one for the Hollow! Tink thought. It would save a lot of time for the Baking talents when they wanted to make apple-based desserts. She got her notepad out and started to scribble down an apple peeler-corer she could make at home, then forgot that the assignment was to make a new invention for a human to use.

Think, think, think, she said to herself. Ah! I know what I could make...

“Now remember,” Professor Boltz said, making the three students glance up from their books. “I want you to build your invention on the leaf paper. That means don't just scribble something fun down, really think about what materials you'd use to make the invention and draw an in depth mechanism of the inner workings.”

Tinker Bell heard Ringles grumble but she wasn't worried – she always delved into her inventions one Lost Item at a time.

Finally it was times up and the professor wished to see what his pupils had created:

“It's an oven that can bake two dishes at two different temperatures,” Ringles proudly declared.

Tinker Bell knew Locket was only being playful towards Ringles, but she could see that there was a lot more competitiveness among Mainland Fairies than Never Fairies. I guess when you aren't born with a natural talent it takes more work to find your place in 'fairy society'.

“You'll see that my invention is a lot more practical,” Locket said.

“Hmm, yes...perhaps this could help the humans,” Professor Boltz said.